A series of tunable emission phosphors of Sm3+, Eu3+ and Mn2+ doped Ba3Tb(PO4)3: luminescence and energy transfer

A series of activator Sm3+, Eu3+, Mn2+ ion doped Ba3Tb(PO4)(3) phosphors with tunable emitting color were synthesized via the high temperature solid state method. X-ray diffraction, luminescence and fluorescent decay curves were used to characterize the phosphors. The obtained powder crystallizes as a cubic unit cell with the space group (I) over bar 43d. Under 377 nm excitation of Tb3+, Ba3Tb(PO4)(3): Sm3+ not only presents D-5(4)-F-7(6-3) of Tb3+ emission lines but also (4)G(5/2)-H-6(5/2-9/2) of Sm3+ orange emission lines, Ba3Tb(PO4)(3): Eu3+ contains the emission lines of Tb3+ and Eu3+ (D-5(o)-F-7(1-4)), and Ba3Tb(PO4)(3): Mn2+ exhibits the emission lines of Tb3+ and T-4(1)-(6)A(1) orange emission band of Mn2+. In addition, the intensities of the red or orange-red emission can be enhanced by tuning the Sm3+, Eu3+ and Mn2+ contents. The intense emission intensities of Sm3+, Eu3+ and Mn2+ ions are attributed to the efficient energy transfer from Tb3+ to Sm3+, Eu3+ and Mn2+ ions, respectively, which have been justified through the luminescence spectra and fluorescence decay dynamics. The energy transfer mechanism was demonstrated to be the electric dipole-dipole interaction. For Ba3Tb(PO4)(3): Sm3+, Ba3Tb(PO4)(3): Eu3+ and Ba3Tb(PO4)(3): Mn2+, the best quantum efficiencies are 41.6%, 70.3% and 49.8%, respectively. The properties of the phosphors indicate that they may have potential application in UV-pumped white light emitting diodes.